I’m sorry for the long and pretentious title this week – well sort of. Usually, I like to keep recipe titles as short as possible for the sake of clarity and focus (and because I’m easily confused). Although, I think a pompous sounding title is quite fitting when describing a pompous looking lamington.

Let me introduce you to my second entry to Mr P’s Re-Inventing the Lamington competition 2011. Vegan chocolate sponge filled with pandan cream cheese and coated in a layer of dark chocolate. As if this eggless lamington wasn’t trying hard enough to please already, it’s then crowned with a shard of pistachio and salted caramel glass.

NOTE: I’ve had a few comments about this being a ‘vegan’ lamington. Let me clarify: this is NOT a vegan lamington because it’s filled with cream cheese and covered in a brick-ish layer of dark chocolate. However, I’ve highlighted that the chocolate sponge used for this lamington IS vegan. I repeat: these are eggless lamingtons using a vegan sponge for any vegan readers who want to make chocolate cake.

Used and abused bottle of pandan extract.

Regular readers will already know that one of my favourite flavours is aromatic pandan. Pandan is a tropical plant which grows abundantly in South East Asia. Pandan extract comes from pulverising the long, spiky leaves into a rice and vanilla scented paste. Pandan extract can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes and is popularly known for being used in chiffon cake. I like to use it in hot and spicy curries, thumbprint biscuits, pandan burfi and of course, chocolate lamingtons.

I’ve tried pairing pandan with so many different ingredients – usually resulting in unspeakable failure. So I stuck to the flavours I knew worked. For once.

Edible gift?

Pandan and chocolate are super together, as are pistachios and salted caramel. I feel as if the number of ingredients in this lamington is justified by how well the flavours compliment one another. So don’t give me that look, Cynic.

It pains me to admit that my lamington sponge is never as perfect as I want it to be. Eggless sponge is tricky to get right, and I’m a woman on a mission to get it right.

I shaved my sponge, then ate the scraps.

Chocolate sponge is much easier to make eggless or veganise than vanilla cake because of the way chocolate and raising agents react with one another – that’s not to say I haven’t cocked it up many a time. In my baking experience, I’ve produced chocolate cakes that crumble at the touch of a finger, chocolate cakes that are so chewy you’d never want to touch a Hubba Bubba again, and chocolate cakes which could knock out The Great Khali during a friendly game of catch gone wrong.

I’m one of those people who like sweet and savoury together. Unless it’s pineapple on pizza, which is sick, twisted and entirely wrong. Moving on, this pistachio-studded salted caramel glass makes a pretty garnish and actually tastes good. You could use any kind of nuts you want, but in keeping with the green theme, I opted for emerald-like pistachios.

1. For the chocolate sponge, sift together all of the dry ingredients excluding the icing sugar and caster sugar.

2. In a separate bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients, icing sugar and caster sugar. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and slowly combine until thoroughly mixed. Do not overwork.

3. Pour the cake batter into a greased and lined 6X8inch pan, and bake at 160°C for 35-45 minutes. Don’t open the oven door at all or for at least the first 25 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Cool thoroughly, trim if necessary and then cut in half.

4. For the salted caramel and pistachio glass, heat the sugar and water in a heavy based saucepan on a low heat. Do not stir the mixture, instead, gently swirl it around from time to time until it is caramelised. Watch it like a hawk because it can quickly burn. If it becomes too dry, add a tsp of boiling water.

5. Grease a steel tray with some oil and pour the caramelised mixture on top. Swirl it around but don’t burn yourself. Quickly scatter over pistachios and a little coarse sea salt. Allow to harden.

6. When the caramel has hardened fully (around 20-30 minutes) gently tap it with a knife to crack it into large pieces.

This was a tester. I got caught up in the excitement and whacked it much too hard.

7. Combine all the ingredients for the pandan cream cheese and spread over one chocolate sponge. Top with the other chocolate sponge.

34 Comments

Sanjana this is incredible. I saw it pop up in my reader and thought immediately, 'Wow!' I came over to your site and I am even more impressed by the rest of your photos and the overall concept, truly truly well done. You should definitely win the contest! (and then share some with the rest of us, because I want this now.)

Cilantropist- That's so lovely of you Aww I wish I could send you a slice! *sends virtual lamington*

Dee Dee & Pushpa- Thank you for your lovely comments, ladies!

Dom- Heading straight over to have a look at yours- I'm sure it's much more impressive!

Astheroshe- Thanks. The 'vegan' refers to the chocolate sponge used for this cake and not the actual lamington. I suppose you could use vegan cream cheese such as spreadable soy cheese but that would be a whole different ball game. These are just eggless lamingtons using a vegan sponge for any vegan readers who want to make chocolate cake.

Are you not at all guilty to eat these heavenly lamingtons by yourself? You need to share darling! Loveee the lamingtons and sooo impressed with the salted pistachio glass! You are awesome and I wish u win the contest!

Gosh, I don't often meet a fellow pandan lover, so I'm already in love with your blog. But this creation is just stunning – it looks like the perfect combo of sweet and salty which I too like. I can't believe this is vegan. * Have to take issue with the pineapple on pizza, though… it's a winner! ; )

A friend of mine's mom gave me a bottle of pandan extract years ago – that I never used. It's an inspiration to drag it out of the spice cabinet and play around with it. Love the photos of the lamingtons! just beautiful

what an amazing cake!!! I've never had a lamington but I'd certainly like to try it. I adore pandan and always have some in the cupboard. The salted caramel glass is a little scary to me but it looks so worth it. I have almost the same vegan chocolate cake recipe so I suppose I'm destined to give this a try

I am SE Asian and let me say that we never use pandan flavoring, and even after I have relocated to Middle East-I find fresh pandan leaves (usually imported from Thailand) Pandan grows year round and how we Asians make pandan extract for any kind of cooking (mostly Asian dessert) of it is to blend it to a smooth puree with water and then sieve it. You get the pandan extract. Personally I find it offensive that you have used pandan with chocolate, its like mixing mint with something awful like peach or mango. It just doesn’t go together. Pandan is meant to go with sticky rice, coconut milk and palm sugar. Period. On the other hand, your blog does have some great recipes.

Hi Priti. Thanks for your comment. I try to ensure all of my recipes are accessible to readers from all over the world and this often means that I will include ingredients that are widely available yet do not compromise on quality. Many of my readers cannot buy fresh pandan and if it is found, it is very expensive and just not practical so if you do feel you must use fresh pandan leaves, please feel free to make your own substitutions as necessary – of course, omitting the chocolate if you genuinely do find this combination offensive. Having said this, I believe that the pandan extract (please note, extract was used in this recipe – not essence or flavouring) is perfect for a recipe such as this. I do hope you find something you like and again, many thanks for your comment.